Former Vikings Minority Owner Gets Six-Year Jail Sentence

Former Minnesota Vikings minority owner Reginald Fowler has been sentenced to more than six years in jail — as well as forfeiting $740 million, and paying $50 million in restitution — for his role in a cryptocurrency and money-laundering scheme. 

Global Trading Solutions was set up by Fowler to wire money to Crypto Capital, a company that allowed crypto exchanges to swap their digital currencies for cash. Fowler, who owned a stake in the Vikings from 2005-14, told U.S. banks that he opened accounts for real estate transactions that, in reality, were funding transactions for Crypto Capital. 

Fowler broke the law by flipping hundreds of millions of dollars for unregulated transactions on behalf of crypto companies, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams told CBS. 

“He did so by lying to legitimate U.S. financial institutions, which exposed the U.S. financial system to serious risk,” Williams said. “He then victimized a professional football league by lying about his net worth in exchange for a substantial portion of the league.”

Fowler was a major investor in the short-lived Alliance of American Football and used funds from his crypto scam to support the AAF — before withdrawing his investment after its inaugural game in 2019 when the Department of Justice became aware of his scheme. The AAF filed for bankruptcy on April 17, 2019, and Fowler was arrested two weeks later.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. ruled that Fowler has 21 days to report to prison, according to Bloomberg.